Conservation Advocacy Soars in the 2024 Bird Photographer of the Year Competition
Bird Photographer of the Year has announced the winners of the 2024 competition, selected from a pool of more than 23,000 submissions. Soaring into the top spot is Canadian conversation photojournalist Patricia Homonylo’s powerful image of thousands of birds that died after flying into windows in Toronto.
Titled “When Worlds Collide,” the winning photo highlights the risk that buildings and reflective surfaces pose to avians in urban areas. “Each year, more than one billion birds die in North America alone due to collisions with windows,” she says.
Through her work with the Fatal Light Awareness Program, Homonylo helps save birds that have flown into glass, but sadly, most of the birds the group finds are already dead. “They are collected, and at the end of the year, we create this impactful display to honour the lives lost and increase public awareness.”
Other top photos this year include Gary Collyer’s adorable group portrait of more than a dozen helmetshrikes nestled close together on a wire as they prepare to snooze, Kat Zhou’s underwater view of diving northern gannets, and the sun streaming through ornate feathers in Hermis Haridas’s “Dawn’s Whispers.”
From conservation advocacy to comedic mischief, the winners of this year’s contest showcase the vibrant array of feathered creatures around the world. Watery feeding grounds, sleepy-time balancing acts, and phenomenal flights capture bird behavior, habitats, and communities that we otherwise rarely have the opportunity to see.
Explore all of the winners on the BPOTY website, where you can also order a coffee table book of the latest image collection.
